CMA’s Spring National College Media Convention aims to allow both students and advisers do just that. Michael Smith, a professor of communication studies at Campbell University, and others on the NYC13 programming committee have lined up more than a dozen sessions specifically for this audience — and for journalists balancing their spiritual lives with their careers.

And many of the sessions provide essential info for all media professionals. Joe Starrs of The Fund for America Studies is presenting Religion 101: What Should a Journalist Know? That session will cover some basics: “Know the difference between a bishop and cardinal in the Catholic Church? Or between Shia and Sunni Islam? Who is considered the founder of the Jewish faith?” Starr will show that “a solid understanding of religion is essential to the journalist of the 21st century.”

Other sessions focus on stories unique to the faith-based campus, how to cover “bad news,” managing students of faith, dealing with private administrators (a student-media-adviser-turned-dean will tell his side of the story) and religious tolerance in newsrooms, including how to “live a life of faith and prayer in the world of journalism”.

These are creative, interesting topics: One speaker will compare modern social media to Martin Luther’s social agenda. Another session highlights WWJE: What Would Jesus Eat? Attendees will learn how “the local food, slow food and fair-trade movements clearly connect with a life of faithfulness stewardship.”

Smith says CMA is a home for non-secular collegiate media. “The advisers at the Christian universities are interested in first-class journalism as well as matters of faith,” he says. “We think we can do both well because media is a spectrum that runs from mainstream press to advocacy press and lots of stops North, South, East and West."

Sounds like a stop at NYC13 is in order.

Advising media on a college campus is a unique niche. Your peers don’t tend to be down the hall or in the next building over, they’re scattered across the country. You ask their advice on the CMA list-serv, see them at conventions and celebrate their successes (or lament their trials) long distance.

And it works. But it can be hard, especially on advisers just dipping a toe into the field. Being a professional journalist doesn’t quite prepare you for the job. Neither does classroom or student-affairs experience.

Some veteran CMA members aim to help their newest peers at NYC13. They’ve prepared a new-adviser shortcourse: a series of five sessions that will arm you for whatever battles may lie ahead.

Here’s what they have planned:

Sunday

Double Session: Advising 101: Introduction to Advising

New to the job of advising? Allow veterans to advise you on what it takes to survive those first years. Topics include the role of the adviser and its challenges, hands on/hands off including prior review and the basics of advising a newsroom. 9-10:50 a.m., Conference Room C

Advising 102: Managing Students and Money  

Advising is more than just sharing your journalism skills. The hardest part is managing students and money. These veteran advisers will address leadership, recruiting and training of millenials. They will also discuss the business aspect of student media, including advertising and marketing. 2:30-1:20 p.m., Conference Room C       

Advisers’ Guide to Law and Ethics         

For new advisers: a crash course in ethics and law along with how to set policies for your staff. Veteran advisers will touch on topics such as social media, prior review, FERPA, libel and the FCC. 1:30-2:20 p.m., Conference Room C        

Monday

Double Session: University 101: Relationships on Campus

You’re the one stuck between a rock and a hard place ... I mean the news staff and your administration. Veteran advisers will guide you through how to do budgets and obtain funding, how to set up a governance plan and, most importantly,  how to manage your publication’s image on campus through navigating campus politics and building alliances. 9-11:20 a.m., Conference Room C

New Adviser Roundtable

Any questions you forgot to ask? What if your newspaper is a class? How do you work within student affairs? What if you don’t have a journalism program? Still in need for mentoring in your new job as advisers? Join these veteran advisers for an informal discussion about your new position and its quirks. 2:30-3:20 p.m., Conference Room C        

In addition, we have ~20 other adviser sessions, including how tos on critiquing, research, recruiting, assessment and more. You can have more informal conversations undefined over food and drink undefined at an opening-night reception and two Meet in the Suite gatherings.

Download the entire schedule and register at NYC13.org.

With nearly 30 sessions headlined by pro photojournalists, a NYC Shootout, portfolio critiques and more, the Spring National College Media Convention is a photographer’s home away from home this March.

Join us to have your work reviewed by John Marshall Mantel, who freelances for the NYT, AP and more. Learn about lighting, big-name sports and high fashion from Josh Merwin, who shoots for ESPN and Sports Illustrated. See how Alicia Hanson is changing lives with her work. Talk about your right to shoot in public with The New York Daily News’s Todd Maisel.

A Getty Images editor will tell you what his staff needs to succeed. And hear about documenting big stories like Occupy Wall Street, Hurricane Sandy and 9/11 from photogs who were on the scene.

Learn about staging photoshoots and working with models from editors at big-name magazines. Get Photoshop tips and tricks from an Adobe evangelist and see how storytelling continues to evolve from the founder of an award-winning production studio.

Review all these sessions and more at NYC13.org.

For nearly 60 years CMA has supported the efforts of college broadcasters with educational programming at our national conventions.  At NYC13 we're continuing that tradition with an incredibly powerful lineup of 40 sessions aimed at broadcast and electronic media students, advisers, and educators.  Here's a short list of the topics we'll cover at NYC13.  

FCC rules & regulations

Television Show Development

Copyright and Royalty Regulations for Broadcasters/Webcasters

Final Cut Pro Tutorial

Legal Issues for Digital Media

Landing Broadcast Jobs

Student Radio & Television Show Critiques

Producing for Television

Radio Engineering: As An Expert

Give Your Radio Station a Facelift

Be Seen on ESPN

The Future of Digital Delivery for Radio

Producing a Television Newscast

And much more….

For more information about the broadcast and electronic media programming at CMA's spring national media convention in New York, visit nyc13.org.

Submit your research papers for AEJMC in Washington, D.C.

The college press will have a presence at the annual Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication convention in 2013 – with your help!

CMA is soliciting research papers on the topics of concern to media advisers, whether they be about their jobs or about the successes and challenges for college students as they produce their newspapers, magazines, yearbooks, television and radio programs and online sites

According to former CMA and AEJMC President Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver, for more than 10 years, CMA has had a research paper session at the convention dealing with issues facing college media. At the AEJMC convention in August 2013, this tradition will continue. 

While the papers should be about issues the college media face, that topic is wide open. For example, one topic of interest is getting students to embrace the culture and immediacy of multimedia: advisers can show them tools but students often don't see the urgency. Perhaps this is a cultural issue. What else? Some research on the job load/training of advisers?  Funding of student media? Coverage of sensitive topics? 

Other thoughts? All would make interesting research papers. 

Brian Steffen of Simpson College again will be the panel's moderator.

Based on the paper's topics and findings, selected panelists will make 10- or 12-minute presentations during the convention in Washington, D.C. In addition, because the papers will be relevant to members of CMA, the papers may be selected for publication in future issues of "College Media Review." Selected papers will be chosen by early May.

Papers should be sent to Sally Renaud, CMA immediate past president, by April 1: Department of Journalism, Eastern Illinois University, 600 Lincoln Ave., Charleston, IL 61920. For more information, contact her at serenaud@eiu.edu.

College Media Association announced today it has hired Lori Brooks as its new associate executive director. Brooks brings more than 15 years experience as an award-winning college media adviser, educator and journalist to the position.

“Lori emerged as the ideal choice after a national search that included more than 110 applicants,” said David Swartzlander, CMA president and chairman of the Journalism and Media department at Doane College. “I’m confident she will bring a combination of enthusiasm, new ideas and professionalism to our conventions and other programs.”

Brooks has served since 2004 as the associate director of student media at the University of Oklahoma, where she advises multiple student publications and projects. She also has worked as an adjunct instructor and director of communications at the university, as well as served as an editor, copy editor and graphic designer for newspapers and commercial clients.

“We’re lucky to have found a candidate with the exact blend of skills our new position requires, but luckier still that she has direct experience with college media and our organization,” Swartzlander said. “Lori is a veteran CMA member, frequent convention presenter and workshop planner with a track record that has earned the respect of our fellow members.”

The CMA board of directors created the new full-time position in September to plan and program conventions, workshops and other training events undefined duties that were managed previously by volunteers and part-time staff, Swartzlander said.

“With our membership exceeding 900 and our convention attendance continuing to increase, CMA decided to commit the resources necessary to ensure the quality of the training and education we offer is second to none,” he said. “We’re eager to see how someone with Lori’s skills applying full-time focus can improve our traditional events and create new outreach opportunities.”

Brooks officially begins Dec. 1, but will immediately assume responsibility for planning the 2013 CMA Spring National College Media Convention in New York City scheduled for March 9-12.

“CMA is enormously grateful to Michael Koretzky for serving as convention director on a part-time basis for our past two New York spring events and the just completed Chicago fall conference,” Swartzlander said. “Michael unquestionably implemented a number of improvements, generated high levels of excitement and built a foundation upon which we hope to launch new standards of excellence.”

Within CMA, Brooks has programmed hundreds of convention sessions and events and directed the association’s summer adviser workshop.

Brooks was appointed to the CMA board of directors in May 2012 to fill the vacated vice president for member services term. She recused herself from the board when the position was created and was not present during any deliberations or candidate review related to the associate executive director position. Her resignation from the board is concurrent with this announcement.

Brooks is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma School of Journalism and served while a student as the editor-in-chief of The Oklahoma Daily, the 14,000-circulation campus daily newspaper.

#   #   #

Contact:                       David Swartzlander, CMA president

                       david.swartzlander@doane.edu or 402-826-8269

Great news this morning via convention co-director and ACP Executive Director Logan Aimone.....

The registration book for the ACP/CMA National College Media Convention to be held Oct. 31-Nov. 4 in Chicago is now available online. http://bit.ly/ncmc12regbook

Online registration for the convention is also open, so review the special program components available in Chicago, submit your paperwork and get ready for learning and fun! http://bit.ly/ncmc12register

CMA's convention co-director, Michael Koretzky, has posted a list of the pre-convention workshops and other program components at the fantastic website: http://collegemedia12.com/

Of course the best convention experience will be had when you stay at the convention hotel, the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers, located on the Chicago River just blocks from Michigan Avenue for dining, shopping and entertainment. You can reserve your hotel rooms here: http://bit.ly/ncmc12hotel (please only reserve the rooms you will need). The Sheraton has plenty of public areas to gather and work (or not) with free WiFi -- and the Internet is also included in the guest rooms.

Remember that ACP and CMA have guaranteed to the Sheraton that our attendees will fill a certain number of rooms. In fact, we've booked almost the entire hotel, which means that all your college media friends will be in the same place for learning, networking and relaxing after the sessions. At $199 plus taxes per room per night, you won't find a better option for convenience and comfort -- and for a few days this fall, it'll be the most exciting place in college media.

Here’s how you can get involved in CMA’s silent auction for SPLC

We know you love the Student Press Law Center. If you’ve been a college media adviser for any time at all, you’ve probably downloaded its libel, privacy or access briefs. Maybe director Frank LoMonte has counseled you through a legal crisis or attorney Adam Goldstein has made you laugh when you felt like you might cry.

The SPLC is always there for student editors and their advisers. And once a year, at the fall convention, CMA shows its appreciation with a benefit silent auction. In the past, we’ve auctioned books by and about and for media practitioners, and we will do that again. But for CMA Chicago, we hope to expand our offerings to include other items – college collectibles, hotel stays, theater tickets, crafts, CDs and DVDs, etc.

We get this stuff from ….you. Yes, you. Here’s how to show SPLC some love:

1.     Find something to donate. Do it today. Here are the categories we’ve created as a starter:

·      Books (anything that would interest a media crowd; new or lightly used)

·      College and Media Swag (check with your state press association)

·      Big Stuff (we’re thinking hotel stays, spa treatments, theater or sports tickets, etc.)

·      Cool Crafts (what do you make?)

·      Other Media (CDs, DVDs, cameras, recorders, etc.) 

 2.     Go to http://tinyurl.com/76g47jj to find a shared Google Docs spreadsheet where you can let us know what you’ll send or bring to Chicago. Or if you prefer, email jgrobinson@ou.edu

3.     Plan now to spend an hour or two tending the silent auction table during CMA. (We work in pairs, so it’s a great way to get to know other advisers.) The auction runs from 8-5 Thursday and from 8-3 Friday. That’s an hour each for 32 advisers.

New advisers and veterans alike, we need your help to show SPLC some love. For more information, email Judy Gibbs Robinson at jgrobinson@ou.edu.

The CMA Board of Trustees has chosen Vanderbilt Student Communications, Inc. to serve as the Association’s headquarters for the next five years.

CMA Hall of Fame member Chris Carroll, director of Student Media for VSC, will serve as CMA executive director. His VSC colleagues Jeff Breaux, who will be CMA’s financial director, and Jim Hayes, who will serve as technology director, will assist him.

The board voted at its summer meeting in Nashville May 29-31. VSC was the only entity to submit a proposal to serve as CMA's headquarters after CMA requested proposals following its New York City convention in March. VSC has served as the interim headquarters since July 1, 2011.

Under the terms of the agreement, VSC will allocate staff and resources to serve as CMA's headquarters from July 1 to June 30, 2017. Until July 1, VSC will continue to operate on the interim contract that began in 2011.

Basically, CMA is buying a portion of the VSC staff's time. VSC, a private, non-profit corporation, offers student media services to Vanderbilt University in Nashville. The annual cost to CMA will be about $80,000, which includes physical facilities CMA can use within VSC's office space at Vanderbilt.

In other action, the CMA Board of Trustees:

•   Approved corporate and operational policies to help guide how CMA operates. The corporate policies primarily satisfy IRS regulations for private, non-profit corporations. They include policies involving governance, conflict of interest, retention/destruction of documents, an IRS 990 review policy, etc. The operational policies are aimed to record CMA practices, such as the requirement that all CMA members must register for conventions. The operational policies also include a travel policy for the board, which features a per diem based on IRS guidelines to cover meals and incidental expenses. Other operational policies include requirements for business liability insurance, for an attorney to review any potential contracts of more than $25,000 and an assurance that the board will act only during its scheduled meetings unless an emergency arises.

•   Approved a $317,850 budget for fiscal year 2012-13.

•   Approved increasing the fee for critiques at conventions from $10 to $15. The extra $5 will pay advisers who agree to critique.

•   Approved a $100 payment to the winner of the annual Ken Nordin Award for college media research.

•   Swore in Lori Brooks as vice president of Member Services and Chris Poore as treasurer.